CT Scans are Dangerous

CT Scans are Dangerous
Will You Be one of the 15,000 That Are Killed By CT Scans Next
Year?
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
December 29 2009
CT scans deliver far more radiation than has been believed, and may
contribute to 29,000 new cancers each year, along with 14,500 deaths.
One study found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much
radiation as estimated by earlier studies. While previous studies relied on
dummies equipped with sensors, authors of the new paper studied more than
1,000 patients at four hospitals.
Based on their measurements, a patient could get as much radiation from one
CT scan as 74 mammograms or 442 chest X-rays.
Young people are at highest risk from excess radiation, partly because they
have many years ahead of them in which cancers could develop. Among 20-
year-old women who get one coronary angiogram, a CT scan of the heart,
one in 150 will develop cancer related to the procedure.
Sources:
USA Today December 14, 2009
MSNBC December 14, 2009
Dr. Mercola’s comments:
I’ve been warning about the extreme dangers of CT scans for nearly a decade
now.
It’s incredible to me that even with long-standing, irrefutable proof of the
connection between CT scans and a high incidence of cancer, so many of
these tests are still being ordered on unsuspecting patients. Estimates are
that only seven percent of patients are informed of the risks of their CT scans.
This is another example of why you must be your own advocate when you
visit your doctor or other health care provider.
Arm yourself with information about the risks that accompany medical tests,
treatments and prescription drugs. Become a smart consumer of your health
care options, rather than an unfortunate victim of dangerous and unnecessary
procedures and medications.
Why So Many Scans?
The number of CT scans doubled between 1997 and 2006, according to a
study by the University of California, San Francisco.
Even more startling: According to a report in the New England Journal of
Medicine (NEJM), in 1980, three million CT scans were performed in the U.S.
By 2006, the number had exceeded 62 million, including four million on
children.
One reason for the increase is many doctors have purchased their own
imaging equipment for their practices. This adds a financial incentive into the
mix and sets the stage for overuse of the technology.
Another reason for the increase is a trend toward commercially advertised full-
body CT scans to “find everything wrong with you.” Consumers with extra
cash laying around (in excess of $1,000 in most cases) are being encouraged
to undergo a full-body scan as a preventive measure.
Three Million Excess Cancers!!
The truth is these scans are performed by commercial enterprises, and the
quality of the tests is so poor as to render the results virtually useless.
This would be less troubling if the CT scan was a harmless imaging
technique. But with radiation levels 100 times what you receive from a
conventional chest x-ray, this is not a test to undergo for screening purposes
or “just because.”
There are circumstances in which a CT scan is truly your best option due to
your condition, but whenever possible, another less dangerous scanning
technology, like an MRI which does not use ionizing radiation, should be
used. MRI's do not involve the use of x-rays, but the powerful magnetic field
of the scanner may present another set of health risks.
The NEJM study estimated that overuse of CT scans may cause up to three
million excess cancers in the next two or three decades. David Brenner of
Columbia University, lead author of the study, estimates that a third of all CT
scans are medically unnecessary.
Brenner told USA Today, “Virtually anyone who presents in the emergency
room with pain in the belly or a chronic headache will automatically get a CT
scan. Is that justified?"
Riskier Still for Kids and Brain Scan Patients
If your child undergoes a CT scan, chances are the equipment will be
calibrated for an adult. This means your child could absorb two to six times
more radiation than needed to produce a clear image. This is unconscionable,
and could result inradiation-induced cancer later in life.
Over 200 unsuspecting patients who underwent a specific type of CT brain
scan at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles received eight to 10
times the normal dose of radiation due to an incorrectly programmed
machine.
The overdose wasn’t discovered for 18 months and only came to light after a
patient reported losing patches of hair following a CT scan.
On the whole, diagnostic imaging tests have increased Americans' average
radiation exposure seven times since 1980. Increased exposure leads to
increased cancer risk.
The Simple Truth: Radiation Damages Your Body
X-rays and other classes of ionizing radiation, like CT scans, are a proven
cause of virtually all types of mutations -- especially structural chromosomal
mutations. Radiation also causes genomic instability, often a characteristic of
the most aggressive cancers.
Further, cells cannot correctly repair every type of complex genetic damage
induced by ionizing radiation, and sometimes cells cannot repair such
damage at all.
Unlike some other mutagens, ionizing radiation has access to the genetic
molecules of every internal organ, if the organ is within the x-ray beam. Within
such organs, even a single high-speed high-energy electron, set into motion
by an x-ray photon, has a chance of inducing the types of damage that defy
repair. That is why there is no risk-free dose-level when it comes to ionizing
radiation.
And when such mutations are not cell-lethal, they endure and accumulate with
each additional exposure to x-rays or other ionizing radiation.
Evidence strongly indicates that over half the deaths from cancer and heart
disease may be x-ray-induced.
Mammography is another example of overused, risky imaging technology.
A mammogram exposes your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times
greater than that from a chest x-ray. Mammography compresses your breasts
tightly, which is not only painful for most women but can actually spread
dangerous cancer cells, should they exist.
Updated guidelines now call for women under 50 to forego routine screening
mammography. This is a small step in the right direction, however, there is a
far better option.
A 100% Safe Imaging Technology
I highly recommend thermography for breast screening in particular, as well
as other types of imaging.
Thermographic screening is entirely safe, non-invasive, and brilliantly simple.
This technology measures the radiation of infrared heat from your body and
translates the information into anatomical images.
There is no pressure or compression of your breasts, and no radiation. This
imaging system can detect signs of breast cancer up to 10 years before either
a mammogram or a physical exam.
If your doctor or other health care provider recommends a CT scan,
mammogram or other imaging technique as either a screening tool or to
diagnose a physical complaint, I strongly encourage you to explore all your
options before agreeing to be radiated.
Don’t trade your good health or a minor complaint for an increased risk of x-
ray-induced cancer in the future.